Egosoft Interactive FAQ

X Rebirth

Third-party extensions (scripts and mods) for X Rebirth can be installed either manually or through the Steam Workshop.

Installation through the Steam Workshop

The Steam Workshop is a mod repository provided by Steam, which you can open directly from the Steam Client. To install mods from it, do as follows:

Open the Steam Client, go to the X Rebirth entry in your game library and click on the Workshop link. Alternatively you can open the Workshop by hovering your mouse cursor over the Community tab, clicking on the Workshop link and searching for X Rebirth there.

Locate the mod(s) you want to install by browsing through the Workshop items. When you hold your mouse cursor over a preview image, a short description will be displayed. If you click on the image or the name, you will be forwarded to the mod's Workshop page, where you can find additional information.

On the mod's Workshop page, click on the green Subscribe button.

When you start the game now, the mod will be downloaded and should be available in the game.

If, after its installation, the mod is not available in the game, then this can have a number of reasons:

Your game was already running, when you subscribed to the mod. Mods are only downloaded, when you start X Rebirth. Therefore quit and restart X Rebirth (don't forget to save your game before) and load your save.

You deactivated Steam Workshop Downloads. To revert this, click on the "Steam Workshop Downloads" entry in the Extensions menu of the game's main menu and restart your game.

You started the game in Offline Mode. In this case a yellow exlamation mark will be displayed next to the Extensions menu informing you that the "check for updates failed". Close the game and restart it in Steam Online Mode.

The mod is damaged or hasn't been updated to work with the latest game version or doesn't work with any of the other mods you have installed. Check the Steam Workshop page of the mod, whether there is any compatibility information available or if there have been other users reporting problems with this mod.

Manual Installation

Not all mods for X Rebirth you will find in the Steam Workshop. Some mod creators will use other mod repositories or hosting sites. To install these mods do as follows:

Download the mod package.
This will often be a .zip (or .rar or .7z) archive containing the actual mod folder and files. To extract a zip archive under Microsoft Windows, you can simply right click on it and select the "Extract All..."-option from the context menu. For extracting other archives you need an external program, such as the (free) 7-zip.

Locate your game folder and create an empty folder called "extensions" within it, in case you don't have one yet.

Extract the downloaded mod package to the "extensions" folder. The folder structure should look like the following now:

...\X Rebirth\extensions\[mod folder name]\

(Within the mod folder you should find a file called "content.xml" as well as the actual mod files. These can be catalog files (cat/dat).

Start the game.

If, after its installation, the mod is not available in the game, then this can have a number of reasons:

Your game was already running, when you installed the mod. Mods are only loaded, when you start X Rebirth. Therefore quit and restart X Rebirth (don't forget to save your game before) and load your save.

You have placed the mod in the wrong folder or folder structure. Make sure that the extensions folder is spelled correctly and that you don't have a second mod folder within the first one.

The mod is damaged or hasn't been updated to work with the latest game version or doesn't work with any of the other mods you have installed. Check the mod topic, whether there is any compatibility information available or if there have been other users reporting problems with it. Also try downloading the mod again (from a different hosting place, if available) to rule out any download problems.

General information applying to both installation methods

Before installing an extension, it's always a good idea to back up your savegames.
You should also carefully read the mod's description in its respective topic in the Scripts and Modding Forum or on its Steam Workshop page, as mods can have additional installation instruction (such as needing other mods or mod resource before working properly). There you may also find compatibility information with regards to other mods as well as instructions for using the respective extension in the game.

After the installation of a mod, it will be displayed in the Extensions menu in the game's main menu. Here you can make additional settings like unsubscribing from the mod or deactivating automatic updates for it. You can also disable the Steam Workshop Downloads completely. Changes to these settings will usually require a restart of the game before they are applied.

If you experience a problem with a mod or have a question about it, ask about it in the respective mod topic in the X Rebirth Scripts and Modding forum or on the mod's Steam Workshop page.